Magazine Advert Reflection

How did you use your research into magazine adverts to start planning your own?

Conducting secondary research into magazine adverts has helped me in numerous ways. By analysing both Indie artist Nina Nesbitt and mixed Indie band Florence and The Machine, I learnt about the various conventions connected within my chosen genre. By doing so, thoughts and ideas were provoked which triggered design elements for my paper design. When analysing the two separate pieces, I praised and criticised certain elements. Although I disliked the complexity of the FATM  poster, I admired the elaborate editing and creativity involved. Nina's tour poster was much more informative and simple which I found effective as it achieved it's purpose without 'trying too hard' The artist's image represented within Nesbitt's tour poster was very conventional, with her long, blonde, messy hair and laid-back clothing which made her appear appealing to her target audience, so much so that they could find aspects they can relate with.

What are your ideas and inspirations behind your paper design?


Overall, my paper design is simplistic yet effective. I was inspired by many Indie adverts I had researched but made my individual advert original, although it twisted certain aspects I had previously seen. 

A fundamental element I needed to include was obviously the artists name, in which I wrote in a pink italics. I chose to do this because I wanted the italics to appear similar to an autograph, which communicates her fame. Despite this, when it comes to creating my artist logo, I will want a different outcome, possibly incorporating flowers to further justify the artists name in addition to a subtle reference to nature, of which is perfectly conventional to the Indie genre. 

A downfall of my paper design is that I drew the artist with her back facing the audience rather than her face which would conventionally be used to promote many artists of any genre. Therefore, there is a lack of artist image which carries mysterious connotations. This may either keep the audience guessing or alienate them and make them disinterested within her as an artist. After not being able to justify the lack of artist image, we will use an image of the artists face (possibly a mid-shot of her playing guitar/close-up wearing nosering to promote the song title and contemporary/quirky/unique Indie image) because it is imperative to present the whole of the artists image to increase her success within the industry which is based upon exterior appearance in addition to the talent expressed (sadly)
 From this paper design, I can conclude that the lack of identity approach which I initially considered may prove unsuccessful when creating it on Photoshop, therefore I will avoid this.

I also felt it was imperative to incorporate the motif of daisies formed into a daisy chain- this was mainly used to symbolise the artists strength of enduring her boyfriends misguided nature in addition to femininity. It also explicitly links to the artists name which has natural and youthful connotations, therefore relating to her target audience and is also visually appealing: all adding up to being conventional characteristics of the Indie genre.

Another element I incorporated within my individual magazine advert (paper design) was the use of a brick wall, an inspiration drawn from our chosen artists original tour poster. Brick walls are often associated with urban roots accompanied with graffiti. However, I used it because I felt it broke boundaries of what an audience may expect from a traditional Indie promotion, therefore subverting conventions and assumptions from the target audience point of view. By using the urban background, it can be easily correlated to the misguided nature of the artists love interest, therefore presenting a sense of the narrative within the music video to the audience before they view it.

Information I included within my paper design is both informative and persuasive. I decided not to involve too much information as it may overwhelm and eventually alienate the target audience, therefore they may decide not to take an initial interest in regard to the product targeted at them. By stating the single is the "fastest selling", it begins to draw in the audience targeted and builds a sudden 'hype' amongst them too. This therefore means that people within the target audience share what they have seen, thus benefitting the artist and their record label financially.

A colour scheme is a crucial component within my paper design. I decided to use a combination of pink and blue for the font which suggests my product has a unisex appeal. By it being unisex, it therefore attracts a larger target audience, evidently increasing the success of the artist who initially appeals to a rather niche sized audience. The colour red was used for the song title however, mainly to engage the audience and help them to notice that it is important information, therefore becoming more memorable to them which may involve them downloading the song/watching the video after witnessing the advert, therefore meaning the promotion was successful because after all, a successful promotion is when audiences recognise the artist through the design and overall portrayal to then go on to become acquainted with the artist and hopefully engage within her musical talents. 

How will this help you with creating it on Photoshop?

By creating a design onto paper before beginning to experiment on the Photoshop software, it allows me to visually see my design rather than having an image in my head.

I individually created 2 main magazine adverts on Photoshop, to the left is the image of my least successful attempt of which I built upon and improved to create a more professional outcome (below WILL ADD WHEN COMPLETE INCLUDING ANALYSIS)

Combine groups ideas to form one successful advert, particular elements worked well and were conventional ...developed ideas


Upon reflection, I can conclude that.........

Creating my magazine adverts is the first time I have ever used Photoshop, therefore, I found this task challenging and simultaneously enjoyable. At first, I found the process of creating and naming layers difficult, but once I taught myself a routine about how the software responds to certain things you would like to adapt, I found it much easier.

The first thing I did was select the appropriate artist image from our photoshoot and edit out (tool name) the background of the forest as I felt it was important to have a plain white background to follow conventions of the Indie genre and what I have witnessed amongst other magazine adverts of the same genre.

I then carefully selected the different fonts I wanted for each separate piece of information via an online font generator which had a variety of fonts to choose from. Each separate piece of information has its own font which is relevant to what it wants to communicate. For example, for  the artists logo I selected a font which involved the imagery of flowers within each letter which I felt was perfect as it reflects upon the feminity of the artist and the target audience whilst effectively relating to the use of a pink stripe which separates the main information from the large artist image. The pink stripe was important to communicate (which was not used within my paper design) and was purposely placed at the top in the centre to purposely engage the audience whilst providing the advert with a hint of colour as the scheme is very minimalistic with a white background supported with black fonts.

I wanted the font for 'Noserings' to be bold and eye-catching as it informs the audience of part of the song title whilst 'and' was intentionally chosen to be smaller therefore less noticeable as it is irrelevant in comparison to the last part of the title: 'Shoestrings' The font selected for 'Shoestrings' appears in an almost handwritten style whilst being italics and free flowing, much like the literal imagery of shoestrings is as they link together, therefore each letter joining symbolises the initial strength of both the relationship between the artist and her misguided boyfriend in addition to the relationship built with her fans. This is a particular element I feel strongly for and I would like to discuss this with my group to include within our final interpretation for our group magazine advert, which therefore proves I am able to reflect on my own work both positively and critically to construct and hopefully improve it. The font for 'out now' however is the same size as the artists name, therefore stressing the importance of it's existence within the advert. 'Out now' is also capitalised in a striking almost cartoon font placed directly in the centre in line with the artists name because it serves the dual purpose of being informative in addition to persuading audience to purchase the single as it is recent, thus exclusive, allowing audiences to become the 'first' to discover a new and upcoming Indie artist. Although my concept for the font is simplistic, I hope it is effective and I will improve it for the secondary Photoshop design.

Artist image within any magazine advert is fundamental because it gives the artist an opportunity to promote themselves, therefore a sense/snippet of their personality and talent is usually included to help boost single sales. The image in which I included within my 1st attempt of Photoshop was archived from the photoshoot we conducted previous to this task. I believe it follows conventions of the Indie genre and presents the artist to be relatable, which is a key component to engaging audiences, especially for a fairly recent artist who is just about to break the music industry, which is a difficult process if promotional tools are not executed efficiently. Although she is shown wearing dull colours, the image shows her in her performance mind-set as she is reflecting upon her inner thoughts, deep and emotional as expressed through her lyrics which are personal to her, conventional of the genre itself. Despite this image clearly presenting the artist exactly how we wanted, there is a lack of eye contact between the artist and audience, which could be something we would like to address differently within the future of creating a group/collective magazine advert. Her initial lack of eye contact with the audience however makes her appear mysterious and laid back, much like Ellie Goulding within many of her photoshoots. This therefore forces the audience to research into her recent career and will thus be intrigued to listen to her music which would eventually lead to purchasing the single. I decided to include a mid-shot of the artist playing her acoustic guitar because it vitally follows genre characteristics associated with Indie. This is to allow the audience to become familiar with her and they can begin to build a relationship with her as an artist. Also within the image the artist is seen wearing a nosering which provides the audience with a visual link to the 'Noserings and Shoestrings' , the song in which we are promoting throughout our production as we are creating the video to it.

I was much happier with my 2nd magazine advert attempt on Photoshop. I believe this is because I had developed basic skills by creating my 1st which allowed me to use them for the 2nd attempt in addition to having a clearer vision of what I wanted to achieve. Lastly, by conducting further research  

·       Do you think your magazine adverts are conventional to your genre? Consider the colours/connotation, images, layout etc

·       Do you think your target audience will be able to build a relationship with your artist?

·       What choices and decisions did you make and why?

·       Are your choices and decisions conventional to your music genre and why?

·       What could you change and why?

Reflection-

·       How will this draft assist you with creating your second?